Method for the Provision of an Individual Device Code for an Electronic Device

1. A method for preventing unauthorized use of an electronic device, the method comprising the steps of: electronically storing a device number and an appropriate device code in a database, wherein the appropriate device code is required to operate the device, at least for the first commissioning of the device; rendering the device to be inoperable until it receives the appropriate device code; delivering the device to a further processing site; and enabling electronically reading out from the database the appropriate device code stored in conjunction with the device number only when a selected code number is provided in conjunction with the device number, whereby the appropriate device code read out from the database is usable to operate the device for at least the first commissioning of the device.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the appropriate device code is stored in the device in an unchangeable memory area that cannot be read by outsiders.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the code number is an invoice number of a retailer.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the device code is stored in the database in conjunction with an appropriate device number from a manufacturer of the device.